AURORA | At Dennis Tilon’s World TV Depot, the wall of televisions is a channel surfer’s dream come true.
With televisions broadcasting dozens of channels from 30 different countries around the globe, the search for entertaining programming tends to be a fruitful one because it’s almost always prime time somewhere.
“I got a lot of ideas,” Tilon said with a laugh.
Tilon’s shop, 15473-G E. Hampden Ave., opened last year and specializes in television systems that broadcast programming from across the globe.
Today, he offers programming from 30 different countries, including India, France, the Philippines, Iran and others. And the jolly store owner said he has plans to add more.
The systems connect to home Internet to broadcast television programing. Customers buy a standard-looking cable box that connects to an HDMI port on their television and pay a monthly fee for the broadcasts.
Tilon, who immigrated to the United States two decades ago from Indonesia, said being able to watch television from home is particularly important for immigrants because it gives them a real-time link to their native countries.
“They need to know what is going on,” he said. “And this is the way.”
While he sees that importance now, Tilon said he really didn’t understand it when he first came to the states.
“When we were back home we wanted to watch American programs because of the Hollywood influence,” he said. It wasn’t until he arrived in the United States that he longed for that connection.
“When I came here, I said, ‘Yes, I would like to know what is happening back home because our family is there,’ we need it,” he said.
Tilon isn’t the only immigrant who feels that way.
Adisu Osman, 43, came to the United States. 20 years ago from his native Ethiopia.
With a box he purchased at World TV Depot, Osman said he is able to tune into the African and Middle Eastern shows that connect him to home. There isn’t an Ethiopian package yet, he said, but the Sudanese package contains much of the programming he wants, particularly sports.
He doesn’t have a rooting interest like he did when he was a kid, but Osman said he still enjoys the soccer and horse racing from halfway across the world.
“At this age I watch if there is a good game,” he said.
And most importunately, he said the system keeps him connected.
“It keeps me home,” he said.
Tilon said the systems are also important because they keep the children of immigrants connected to their parents’ native language.
At school and in their neighborhood, children speak English so they often lose the ability to speak their family’s native tongue, he said. If they watch some television programming from their parents’ home, the children will be more likely to speak the language.
“Now their child wants to speak it because they hear it, they see it,” he said.
Tilon said he hopes to go a step further on the language front and begin offering free English classes to immigrants at the store.
He said he also hopes to start working with some of the many ethnic restaurants in Aurora to broadcast foreign television there.
“While they are eating Thai food, let’s watch Thai news,” he said.
Aurora is the ideal spot for world TV Depot because of the city’s diversity and booming ethnic populations, Tilon said.
As the city grows even more diverse, Tilon said he hopes to continue adding more foreign programming packages.
“We are working,” he said, “one ethnicity at a time.”
For more, visit www.worldtvdepot.com
Reach reporter Brandon Johansson at 720-449-9040 or bjohansson@
aurorasentinel.com
Great customer service there and many options to every pocket, lowest prices in town. I highly recommend this store.
This is great news for the children doesn’t speak their native language